Tobacco smoking pipes



Feb. 4, 1958 R. B. SUTTER TOBACCO SMOKING PIPES Filed Nov. 15, 195] IN VENTOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,821,?87 TOBACCO SMOKING PIPES Roser B. Sutter, Scranton, Pa. Application November-'15, 1951, Serial No. 256,449

4Claims. or. 131-198) This invention relates to improvements in tobacco smoking pipes, and is more particularly concerned with structures and arrangements of the bowl and smoking passages.

, A feature of the invention is the provision of a bowl having a cavity for receiving the tobacco, and including within its walls passages having porous fillings of heatconductive, gas-absorptive and hygroscopic material which can act as a purifying agent for determining the character of the tobacco smoke drawn through the mouthpiece of the pipe.

With these and other features as objects in view, as will appeari'ri the course of the following description and claims, illustrative forms of practice of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view of a tobacco pipe according to this invention, largely in central longitudinal section.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the pipe shown in Fig. l as seen from the bowl end. 7

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view essentially on line 3'-,3'of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, essentially on line 4-4 of Fig, 5, showing a bowl end member, on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 5 is an inner end view of the bowl end member of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view substantially on line 6'6' of Fig; 1, and showing a safety cover.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary central sectional view, of a modified form of a tobacco pipe.

Fig. 8' is a fragmentary section, similar to that of Fig. 7', showing a further modification of structure.

Fig. 9 is a sectional View substantially on line 99 o'f'Fig'. 8'.

Fig. 10 is a greatly enlarged view, showing an aperture in the bowl structures of Figs. 1, 7 and 8, having a gasabsorbent lining and a free passageway therethrough.

\ In the form of construction shown in the Figs. 1 to 3, the bowl and the stem are coaxial. The bowl piece 10' lias'a bowl cavity 11 therein for receiving tobacco, and a multiplicity" of small apertures (shown generally at 12 in Figs. 1, 7 and 8; and in detail in Fig. 10) extend through the bowl wall to the cavity 11,; and will be described more in detail with respect to Fig. 10 hereinafter. The inner end of the bowl has a constricted passage 13 leading intoa space 14 whose walls receive the reduced portion of the mouthpiece 15 in usual fashion, this mouthpiece having a smoke passage 16 as usual.

At the lip or open end, the bowl structure has an internal rabbet which is threaded for receiving a structitre 20 Shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and having a central opening 21 which is illustrated as of the same diameter as the cavity 11. The structure 20 may be machined, cast or pressed from metal, non-combustible and nonfu'sing" plastic, and like materials.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the lip member 20 has an end flange 21a with a curved outer wall so that it conforms to and merges with the general outer surface of the pipe bowl structure 10. Extending integrally with this fia'hg'e 21a is a partial cylindrical flange 22 which is threaded externally to engage the threads in the ,bowl structure It). This partial flange is cut away between 2,821,987 Patented Feb. 4, 1958 2 the planes 24, 25 (Fig. 5), to provide a slot in a plane at right angles to the"longitudinal axis ofthe bowl, and tlie' peripheral flange 21'ais also recessed to provide the surface 26: Projecting from the'surface 2'6 ofthe structure 20 are two posts 27, 28 which are threaded externally forengaging in the threads of the bowl structure 10} these posts extending for essentially the same distancein the' illustrated form as the cylindrical flange 20. Also ex-' tending from the-surface26is a pin30, this pin terminat ing at the level of the major portion of the surface of' the peripheral flange 20 (Fig. 4').

A safety cover 35 is formed of sheet metal with a thickness slightly less than the depth of thesurface-"ZG' below the general surface of the peripheral: flange 20: This safety cover may be formed of sheet material, and is illustrated as having tines providing three slots- 36'; 37, 38, of which the slots 35, 38closely receive the depending? posts 27, 28 and are formed with parallel walls. The tines providing. the slot 37 fit around thepin 30; and-have: the major portion of their lengths parallel andas spaced a distance slightly greater than the diameter of thispin 30, but having inward extensions 39 adjacent the free; edge of the safety cover, to provide stops by engaging with the pin 30,. to prevent full removal of the safety cover. The total width and shape of the safety cover permits it to engage against the Walls 24, 25 whenfully inserted, thus determining its inward position, in association with engagement of the bottoms of slots 36; 37, 38- with the posts 27 and 28" and the pin Sill The safety cover projects beyond the periphery of the wall of bowl 10, and has a part for easy engagement by the fingers, which, when made of sheet" metal may be formed bya curl 40.

In the illustrated form, a sheet metal ring or washer 45 is provided upon the rim of the bowl 10', and has an integral extension 46 providing a spring clip for engagement at the lip of a clothing pocket;

In assembly, the safety cover can be engaged wit'h the posts 27, 28 and pin 30, and then the metal ring 45 slipped over the'threaded extension 21 and the posts 27, 28. assembly is then screwed into the bowl structure 10';'af1d this assembly may be made permanent if desired by employment of cement upon the threads before they are engaged. The threading engagement is continued until the general peripheral flange 20 engages the ring 45, so that a solid and tight structure is produced, with a uni form external appearance for the major part of the periphery. It will be noted that the 1ing4 5 presents a surface opposite the surface 26 of the member 20, so that the safety cover slides between two metal surfaces respectively on the member 20 and the ring 45; and the surface of the ring 45, which engages the lower surface of the safety cover, can scrape any deposit therefrom as this safety cover is" drawn outwardly.

In the preferred arrangement illustrated in Fig. 1, the mouthpiece 15 carries a feather 50' of tempered steel for example, so that the pipe includes a tool for maintaining the proper and desired size of the holes 120,- as described" its bore communicating with the atmosphere and provides an air passage independent of the passage for the smoke, and operates as a cooling and precipitating corr= denser surface within this smoke passage. It will be noted that its presence does not prevent the employment" of the reamer 50, and that this reamer can be slid into and out of position with the same motion as employed'for returning or removing the mouthpiece 15 from the bowl 16.

In the modified structure of Fig. 7, a pipe of straight stern form with the bowl cavity at a right angle thereto is shown. The bowl structure a has apertures 12 as before, and the smoke passage 14a in the stem portion of the bowl structure has a transverse cooling tube 52. The mouthpiece 15 with its passage 16 is fitted into the stem of the bowl structure 10a in the usual way, and carries a reamer 50 as before.

In the modified form shown in Figs. 8 and 9, a pipe of the same general form as that of Fig. 7 is illustrated, but in this modified form a safety cover 35 is provided which may have substantially the identical shape of the cover shown in Fig. 6. In this modification, no separate margin or lip piece 20 is provided, but a slot 26a is out directly into the bowl, which may be of briarwood, for receiving the safety cover 35, this slot being in a plane parallel to the plane of the lip of the bowl, and spaced about one-eighth of an inch therefrom. Three holes are then drilled into the lip of the bowl, parallel to the bowl axis; three pins 27a, 28a, 30a are tightly inserted therein, and have functions corresponding to those of the posts 27, 28 and pin 30 of Figs. 5 and 6. In Figs. 8 and 9, the passages 12 are provided as before.

In Fig. 10, the apertures 12 are shown in detail. Each is provided by a hole 12a, which as illustrated may be drilled through the bowl wall. A lining 12b is provided in the hole 12a of a gas-absorbent and heat-conductive material, leaving a free opening or flue channel 120.

The bowl may be made of the usual materials, including such materials as briar root, corncob, apple and the like, compositions such as meerschaum, clay, etc.

Tobacco smoke contains, as is well-known, a great many substances including ammonia, carbon monoxide, aldehydes, acids and alkaloid bases. Also present are, in substantial amounts, steam vapors, derived from the combustion of the tobacco and others generated from free moisture contained in the tobacco.

In smoking the conventional pipe, these substances and others are drawn over the unsmoked part of tobacco charge and thus cooled and condensed on said part in substantial amounts. This process renders the unsmoked tobacco progressively less combustible and causes increased amounts of combustion products, in particular carbon monoxide and aldehydes to be deposited therein. Further, as the smoker proceeds, the so-called undesirable condensates are reheated and reactivated in increasingly larger amounts and as a result the smoke becomes progressively hotter, stronger and more biting.

It has been found that if the bowl apertures 12 are provided and made as illustrated in Fig. 10 with a gasabsorbing heat-conductive lining or filling 12b and a flue or free opening 120, substantial amounts of hot volatile fumes may be absorbed by said porous lining and other portions thereof may simultaneously be released by means of the free openings 120 when formed and freed.

The elimination of these undesirable gaseous fumes plus moisture particles as described hereinafter is augmented by the exhaled breath of the smoker which not only promotes combustion (as is customary) but simultaneously blows out the gaseous moist mixture when formed and freed, by means of the free openings 12c. By this substantial elimination of the combustion products before they have a chance to condense and thus be resmoked, a cooler, milder and less harmful smoke is obtained, noting that cool air can enter the openings during inward draft toward the smokers mouth.

Desirable porous absorbents such as vegetable and animal carbons are poor heat conductors; and can be employed herein by mixing with particles of a conductive material such as metal powders of aluminum, copper, iron or silver. The heavier mineral carbons and graphite combine desirable characteristics of absorption and heat conduction, particularly in the impure form with metal or metal oxides, such as iron, present. conductive material may be admixed.

The absorbent agent may be provided in the form of a fine powder, mixed with a water solution (15 percent) of glycerine or diethylene glycol as a binder; this mass can be forced into the bowl apertures, then the fiues provided by :a perforating tool, and the mass allowed to dry in place. A desirable size for each flue is one millimeter or less in diameter, and for mechanical reasons, the size should not be less than about one-fourth millimeter to permit reaming when obstructed. The dry mixture may alternatively be dusted or blown onto moistened surfaces when it is to be placed.

In the course of smoking, small particles of tobacco, some in their original state, some partially carbonized, and others fully carbonized in a mixture with ash and tar, adhere to the sides of the bowl, and progressively build up into a solid dense mass, called cake. This mass is porous in the early stages of formation, and has a great afiinity for tars, and can absorb considerable quantities. When saturated therewith, the porosity is lost, and they should be removed. The pipe as a complete article includes the reamer 50, which can be employed by withdrawing the mouthpiece in the usual way and passing the pin through each of the holes 12a; this pin having a diameter from one-fourth to one millimeter. This reaming, from time to time, keeps the tines free of obstructions.

The safety cover is attached so that it is not immediately separable when pulled out to expose the bowl cavity for clearing the ashes, and reloading and afiords an ample space for passage of air to the burning charge during draft, and allowing escape of smoke with its moisture content between drafts, so that the charge remains drier and continues to burn. That is, the escape of moisture between drafts reduces the amount of moisture which otherwise would be condensed in the unburnt tobacco charge; and therewith the combustion thereof is not quenched by such condensed moisture.

In smoking, particles and and condensate may collect on the lower surface of the cover and in the slots, but such are stripped away each time the cover is drawn out for cleaning and recharging, by the action of the posts 27, 28, 27a and 28a, the pins 30, 30a, and the walls providing the slot in the cover. I

Desirable dimensions for the cover slots are of an inch wide, and spaced apart the same distance, for a bowl of an inch in diameter and holding a normally-packed charge of about 2.4 grams.

As specimens of practice, pipes each having a cavity of an inch in diameter and holding a charge of 2.4 grams when loaded and packed normally, the wall thickness being about A of an inch, were prepared and employed as follows: v

(A) Sixty-five perforations, each about of an inch in diameter were bored into the bowl as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The bowl was soaked for about five minutes in a 10 percent solution of diethylene glycol. The bowl mouth was held closed, and a blowing device used to force microfine graphite through the stem into the bowl, and thus into the perforations, so that the bowl and perforations were lined with a thin coating of the graphite. Surplus graphite was loosely wiped from the surfaces of the bowl and stem, and the remaining graphite on the bowl cavity wall was rubbed until smooth; thus providing a tasteless, stable, gas-absorbing and heat-conductive lining in the bowl and perforations. The total amount of graphite was about 1.5 grams. It contained iron as an impurity. Severe tests of vibration, jolting, and jumbling did not reveal any sign of detachment or dust formation.

(B) Fifty perforations, each about %2 of an inch in diameter were bored into the bowl. A dry mixture of seventy-five parts by weight of bone black and twentyfive parts by weight of aluminum powder was moistened Further heatby gradually adding a water solution containing about 15 percent of glycerine, stirring to form a plastic mass. The perforations were filled with this plastic, by pressing it in from the inside of the bowl until the perforations are nearly filled. The mass which is rubbed onto the inner surface of the bowl assists in anchoring the perforation fillings in place. Each of the aperture fillings or plugs was then perforated by a pin having a diameter of one millimeter or less, to produce a flue 12c in each. About 2.2 grams of the dry mixture was employed.

(C) Ninety perforations, each about ,4 of an inch in diameter, were bored into the bowl. A water solution containing about 15 percent of diethylene glycol was mixed with 25 percent of very fine aluminum powder to form a slurry which was kept in suspension by stirring. The mixture was passed through the apertures and bowl cavity until a fine coating was obtained. An apparatus was made by preparing a container for a combustible charge and connecting the same to the pipe bowl, and employing a jet pump as an aspirator to draw smoke from the charge through the bowl. A mixture of a poorburning tobacco, peat moss, and a small amount of powdered cork was employed to produce a vegetable carbon soot, which was thus brought to and deposited on the moist aluminum layer, to reduce the size of the free holes in the apertures to desired inside diameter of one millimeter or less. The container had an adjustable cover to control the air admission for producing a maximum amount of carbon along with small amounts of tarry substances sulficient to form a permanent binder but not to saturate the carbon deposit. Aromatic compounds such as myrrh or other resins may be incorporated with the sooty smoke, to flavor the pipe and carbon deposit therein.

Numerous tests have been made with pipes processed in accordance with these examples, both by mouthsmoking and by use of aspirating devices for controlled reproduction of various smoking conditions. In each controlled case, a charge of 2.4 grams of a commercial pipe tobacco was employed, using the same brand (a White Burley containing flavoring and about 4 percent of glycerine) and moisture content throughout a group of such tests. In comparison to like pipes not so prepared, the smoke showed almost total elimination of ammonia, 80 percent reduction of aldehydes, 53 percent reduction of carbon monoxide, and 78 percent reduction of pyridine bases: and the smoke averaged about 15 degrees F. cooler. No wet residue of unsmokable dottle was found in the treated pipes.

Likewise, tests with the safety cover have shown that a similar elimination occurred therewith; and it was further noted in both cases with the instant pipe that smoking could be continued up to the last few particles of tobacco which shook out with the ashes upon slight tapping; whereas the ordinary pipe having a safety cover but no free holes 12 required four relightings, and about 0.4 grams of wet, sticky dottle was present which could not be tapped out by ordinary rapping.

The absorbents usable include vegetable and animal carbons, mineral and metallic carbons, graphite powder, powdered silica gel and microporous earths (kieselguhr, asbestos), which all are surface-active agents of high porosity and permeability to the gases and vapors. Heatcondnctive admixtures include metals and oxides such as iron, aluminum, silver, and copper, in granular, powdered, or fibrous form of fine sizes. The binders are hygroscopic organic liquids illustrated by glycerine and diethylene glycol which respectively boil at about 550 and 470 degrees F. and have low vapor tension at the temperatures to which the lining masses are subjected during employment. Other non-toxic and non-ofiensive substances may be used or admixed, which have the stated characteristics.

I claim:

1. A tobacco pipe having a bowl having a multiplicity of apertures distributed over the major portion of the bowl wall and extending from the interior to the exterior thereof, and porous linings which are adherent within said apertures to the walls thereof and comprised of a porous gas-permeable homogeneous mass of particles of gasabsorbent and heat-conductive material and having a binder constituted of a hygroscopic organic liquid of low vapor tension at the temperature of said mass during smoking, each lining having therein a flue opening with an effective diameter of one-fourth to one millimeter.

2. A tobacco pipe having a bowl having a multiplicity of apertures distributed over a major portion of the bowl wall and extending from the interior to the exterior thereof, and porous linings which are adherent Within said apertures to the walls thereof and comprised of a porous gas-permeable homogeneous mass of particles of a gasabsorbent carbon and a metal powder and having a binder constituted of a hygroscopic organic liquid of low vapor tension at the temperature of said mass during smoking, said binder being selected from the group consisting of glycerin and diethylene glycol, each lining having therein a flue opening with an efiective diameter of one-fourth to one millimeter.

3. A tobacco pipe having a bowl having a multiplicity of apertures distributed over a major portion of the bowl wall and extending from the interior to the exterior thereof, and porous linings which are adherent Within said apertures to the walls thereof and comprised of a porous gas-permeable homogeneous mass of particles of graphite carrying iron as an impurity and having a binder constituted of a hygroscopic organic liquid of low vapor tension at the temperature of said mass during smoking, each lining having therein a flue opening with an eifective diameter of one-fourth to one millimeter.

4. A tobacco pipe having a bowl having a multiplicity of apertures distributed over a major portion of the bowl wall and extending from the interior to the exterior thereof, and porous linings which are adherent within said apertures to the walls thereof and comprised of a porous gas-permeable homogeneous mass of particles of bone black and metallic aluminum powder and having a binder constituted of glycerine, each lining having therein a flue opening with an effective diameter of one-fourth to one millimeter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 708,852 Allison Sept. 9, 1902 836,354 Acheson Nov. 20, 1906 877,777 Ieantet Ian. 28, 1908 980,476 Bastian Jan. 3, 1911 986,024 Odenbaugh et a1. Mar. 7, 1911 1,507,545 Deussing Sept. 2, 1924 1,649,714 Lord Nov. 15, 1927 1,826,331 Traube Oct. 6, 1931 1,897,073 Pepper Feb. 14, 1933 2,216,303 Taylor Oct. 1, 1940 2,440,396 Doppelt Apr. 27, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 7,616 Great Britain 1896 11,559 Great Britain 1893 12,604 Great Britain 1915 76,003 Switzerland Oct. 16, 1917 86,246 Austria Nov. 10, 1921 110,624 Great Britain Nov. 1, 1917 268,926 Great Britain Apr. 14, 1927 356,598 France Oct. 11, 1905 812,479 Germany Aug. 30, 1951 OTHER REFERENCES The Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 4th ed., published by Reinhold Publishing Corp., N. Y., 1950, page 231 for diethylene glycol and page 321 for glyceroT y i 

